The Republican journal., 1887-11-10
MARY JAMES TRAVELS.
PARIS, THE FAiREST CITY OF THE
CONTINENT OF EUROPE.

1t Is Introduced ~ Rhyme, That Arc
Neither Poetry Nor Sentimcnt-ineri-
can French Not Useful Thcr,-Anainst
the Old Masters.
Especial Correspondence
PARIS, Franco, Oct q
mo city so fair is,
Think, as is Paris,
30 thoroughly, madly, wildly Francois.
From Naples to London.
All others arc undCnc
By Paris, cnchantinsly, wickedly CAV"
There, that is neither my poetry nor nv
sentiment, and I give it morelv to show
the bad effect of Babylon on tho Young.
Dickcy wrote it, and select it rs tho best ont
OF a great lot Of very much worse, il That
be possible
During the last thrco months VIC have been
III all of tho best cities of Europe. and in
some wo have thought it hardly possible for
farls to DO superior but twenty four hours
nero VIII convince tho most slscptical that in
oil those features which 70 toward making
Guy attractive, i'll tho general sense of tho
term, farls IS so far ahead of all competitors
mat you can't SEQ them without tclcscopc.
But with all her beauty and attractivcness
IarlS Is lnconcelvably bad, and she has mr.
rived at that stage of shamelcssness, in which
inc SUBJECT pays no heed to conccalmcnt bu;
sho father glorlcs in exhibiting it to all the
world. 1crhops Paris is not altogether to
Diame, however, for tho thousands of visitors
from more pious sections of tho footstool
take hand with her, and the cosIlopo,itan
combine is something terrible to conten,-
plato L know staid and sober American bus-
bands and wives who go to some of tho gar.
dclls and theatres of Paris where respcctahlo
French women arc never seen, where the can
can Is feature, and where vico is s,cllcd
with big V. Ono to whom spoke in some
surprise about this replied to this effect:
'Oh, OF course; wouldn't think Of Going
TO such place at homo, but it's all right in
fai1s, and must be taken in ~, one Of the
orthodox sights of tho city.o
but Paris IS beautiful, and l AN reminded
by her beauty and wickcdncss of Mcss,;r,
whose marble face in Tho Vatican l., faircr
IMAM that of any woman, living or dead. 7
nave seen on tho continent l can scarcely
glVo the record OF Messalina in q public print
Dht those who know it will, l think. agree
with mo IN calling Paris tic Messalina of
cities -
What's the usc of jumping on Paris in
that style'' asks Dickcy, and I am con-
1 'Ahou " repeat inc question to myself and
pause for a reply.
somebody has got to be supremacy wicked,
ana IL IarlS wants tho distinction lc. her
II" w IT, Lot' drink and be merry, for to
morrow ye dlc, and after death comcsa--
IND that my American French is not
worm shucks as Il medium for the expression
Vi thoughts In Franco, and it is even worse to
grasp what Is said to INC. NV car is not so
We'll Clncnfni
manage to get a question asked intclligentlv
"'il completely knocked OUT b. the answer
A ponceman, with real French poIitcness
tumblcd to that fact the other div and
when he couldn't tell nc what wantcd to
know he tishcd out pencil and nancr md
wrote it for mo as if had b-cn deaf II an
swered tho purpose and my question though
and was correspondingly grateful,
Mem: Learn to read French. which is
really easy, and when you visit France pre-
tend that you are deaf
met q man the other tlay-aa A 1,oric,n-
something I've done a million times T pro
sumo, In my long and uncvc,tful career. and
nc began to plume himself on his superior
knowledge, as men do often when there's a
woman IN the case. We went out to buy
gloves. Giants is the French for cloves
which are cheap i'll Paris, and he took me
by several places, because, as he said we
could ind something better Finally VIC went
INTO shop and he began to spread
NO noticed in every window" said he
That Cant S gloves arc advertised moro than
any other, and l think you had better get
Them
"Who's GantH' said 1, innoccntly.
I'm, said he, wisely, "hc is q prominent
glove manufacturer, l suppose, as sec his
name in every glove shop in town.
may say in conclusion that made enough
by buying Giants gloves TO buy French die
tlonary and send to that man.
Except i'll gloves and certain PARTICLES of
Paris, or "spccialties," Paris is not q chean
place to make purchases, and my experience
has taught mo never to go into shop which
has window display with the prices not
plainly marked on each article.
Paris has two leading picture galleries. the
Louvre and the Luxembourg; the latter dc
Voted to French masters of tho modern
school, under certain restrictions Tho
Louvre has fourteen miles Of art, they say. in
Guiding little of everything, by everybody,
ana among the pictures it is astonishing how
many OF them the amateur connoisscur is
able to forget. In every gallory have seen
there has always been at least one picture
that makes q lasting impression, but in tho
Louvre that ono has been wanting in nv
case, and all | can remember i; q long vista
of red and blue and flesh tints ard gilt
frames Among tho brighter, fresher pic
lures of the Luxembourg, find different re-
suits, and though my opinion in art may not
be of weight, am willing to wager q cham
pagnc cork that of the 100 or 1000 of Ameri-
cans who havc seen each gallery tho great
majority will vote with me, as against the
old master variety of art It's hcresy, no
doubt, but I think art needs a Martin Lu-
Their, and am paving tho way for him as far
as is in my power.
took Dickcy down ninety feet under the
city in the catacombs, tho other day, whcro
G,0O,OOO skeletons of defunct Parisians are
ranked up like cord wood, with the skulls
and crossbones put in Enthusiastically for orna-
ment, hoping it would have scdativo effect
upon her; but tho only result have observed
was remark to tho point that, although tho
catacombs was hardly the basement kitchen
of Paris, it still might properly be called tho
skullery.
We arc once moro in the land of visible
newspapers, which VIC have not been since
leaving Rome. It's little queer about news
papers and their sellers. In Germany, where
moro persons can read than anywhere else
probably in the world, don't think I ever
saw paper offered for sale by newsboys on
tho street as in our own cities; but down in
Naples where fewer persons can read than